Building strong executives and weak institutions: how European integration contributes to democratic backsliding
In: The review of international organizations
ISSN: 1559-744X
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In: The review of international organizations
ISSN: 1559-744X
World Affairs Online
In: The review of international organizations, Volume 19, Issue 2, p. 307-343
ISSN: 1559-744X
In: Comparative political studies: CPS, Volume 53, Issue 10-11, p. 1547-1581
ISSN: 1552-3829
World Affairs Online
In: Governance: an international journal of policy and administration, Volume 31, Issue 4, p. 625-642
ISSN: 1468-0491
Research on the European Parliament finds legislative voting patterns remained constant following the Eastern enlargement of the European Union. This article shows that Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from these new member states are actually more likely to vote along European party lines. Given that these MEPs often come from less institutionalized domestic party systems that lack norms of legislative discipline, we should expect them to exhibit more erratic voting behavior than MEPs from mature systems. Why would stronger party discipline at the European level be associated with more volatile and fragmented domestic party systems? This article argues MEPs from less institutionalized systems rely more on the brand of their European party, which provides better information and career opportunities than their parties at home, and thus are more likely to vote along European party lines. I find support for this theory using data from the sixth European Parliament (2004–2009).
In: British journal of political science, Volume 54, Issue 3, p. 547-572
ISSN: 1469-2112
AbstractAcross advanced industrialized democracies, the political centre is collapsing as politicians on the far right and far left enjoy increasing electoral success. Recent research links import shocks to voter support for far-right parties. However, we know comparatively less about how these shocks impact individual legislator ideology, especially that of mainstream politicians. Do import shocks drive economic or cultural ideological shifts among mainstream legislators? If so, to what extent do local competitive contexts shape these shifts? Using a dataset of French Senate roll call votes, we find that localized increases in import exposure moves elite ideology to the left economically; this is magnified in departments with majoritarian electoral systems. We show that legislators shift their cultural positions in response to import shocks, but only when faced with extremist political competitors focused on cultural issues. Our results suggest the value of attending to how political and economic geography intersect to shape elite policy positions.
In: The review of international organizations
ISSN: 1559-744X
In: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics
"From Elections to Democracy in Hard Times" published on by Oxford University Press.